Samsung's Galaxy S9 Called 'Worthy Rival' to iPhone X as Reviews Hit

[MarkB786]

On the hardware side maybe, but noting beats the simplicity of iOS.

The utter simplicity and lack of engaging features in IOS and the iPhone is actually what drove me away from iOS. My Note 8 is much more practical than my iPhone was. The iPhone got to the point where it felt simply like an expensive warehouse for apps. My Note 8 does so much more than that.

 

[grkm3]

I'll just assume you have no proof of your false claims. Sometimes its best to just admit you were wrong or quietly move along.

So ----> For the 3rd time --> Proof that iPhones explode and catch fire at a similar widespread, global and mass rate that the Notes did please..

It wasn't wide spread.samsung said it was less than 35 incidents and half those were fraudulent for a quick lawsuit.

Samsung said there were 0.01% of how many phones sold and still did a recal .

There was only a total of 35 phones that swelled up TOTAL

Out of 90 million sold

 

[MarkB786]

My wife has the S8. In terms of hardware, it's certainly an admirable piece of tech. However, the fact that it runs a heavily skinned version of Android that, as clearly evidenced by Samsung's prior behavior, won't see updates for quite some time makes it a non-starter for me.

Why do updates drive your decision making? If you like the phone as you receive it, why the dire need for updates? This tends to be an addiction, as we always crave something fresh and new, I suppose.
[doublepost=1520541047][/doublepost]All I can say is that after 6 mos with my Samsung after owning an iPhone from ver 1.0, I am still extremely happy with and have no plans to go back to iOS (at least until either Samsung totally screws up the deign, or Apple catches up on hardware and software functionality).

 

[JGIGS]

S8 S9 fine looking phones and touchwiz or whatever they call it looks a lot nicer but I wish you could just get it with pure android out of the box.

I'll be keeping a close eye on the next Pixel phone. My ask, the smaller version with the design of the large version. Killer device right there.

 

[raqball]

It wasn't wide spread.samsung said it was less than 35 incidents and half those were fraudulent for a quick lawsuit.

Samsung said there were 0.01% of how many phones sold and still did a recal .

There was only a total of 35 phones that swelled up TOTAL

Out of 90 million sold

LOL

Which is why they were banned from airplanes and everywhere else. I guess that's why Samsung also recalled them once, sent out phones with battery safe stickers only to have them continue to blow up and result in a global recall and ceasing of manufacturing and sales right?

 

[redbeard331]

This should be called the S8s

 

[grkm3]

LOL

Which is why they were banned from airplanes and everywhere else. I guess that's why Samsung also recalled them once, sent out phones with battery safe stickers only to have them continue to blow up and result in a global recall and ceasing of manufacturing and sales right?

Like I said 35 phones total.look it up! And they didn't stop sales.they put out the note 7r that was good to go.

 

[bopajuice]

For those Apple enthusiasts considering this phone, how do you get your contacts, and calendars to sync? Is it possible to use an Android phone as still live primarily in the Apple Eco system?

It's great that when my phone rings so does my iPad, my laptop, and my computer, but I have had so many issues with the last couple of iPhones, that I am willing to try something else. Handoff is great, iCloud works great for syncing across devices, but for the most part my devices all live within earshot of each other. So handoff is not really that big of a deal to me.

Any constructive feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Hagrid]

Just for the headphone jack it's superior to the iPhone.

Really....do you also miss your CD/DVD drive, or your serial port, or maybe even your floppy disk. Not bashing you, just tired of hearing this over and over. Once I made the move to wireless, I find that the wires dangling down are now just a pain in the a$$, and tend to always get caught on things (like when I'm shoveling snow ). Both of my sons use wireless exclusively, from their Macs and iPhones, as do a lot of their college buddies.

Time to Think Different

 

[grkm3]

Really....do you also miss your CD/DVD drive, or your serial port, or maybe even your floppy disk. Not bashing you, just tired of hearing this over and over. Once I made the move to wireless, I find that the wires dangling down are now just a pain in the a$$, and tend to always get caught on things (like when I'm shoveling snow ). Both of my sons use wireless exclusively, from their Macs and iPhones, as do a lot of their college buddies.

Time to Think Different

What if you own a pair of really expensive wired headphones?

 

[petsounds]

Yeah, sure, the S9 has a facial scanner. Its security can also be defeated with a photo of a face.

 

[dazz87]

Still running Android and still an inferior ecosystem.

Hardware does look good, though.

True cause we all know how great iOS 11 is!

 

[Altis]

On the hardware side maybe, but noting beats the simplicity of iOS.

That was true only a few years ago... not so much anymore, sadly.

Not that Android is what I'd consider 'simple', but Apple have done a real number to iOS.

 

[raqball]

Like I said 35 phones total.look it up! And they didn't stop sales.they put out the note 7r that was good to go.

And you continue to deflect away instead of proving your claim that the iPhone suffered the same global and widespread issue... Anyway, point taken you have no proof of your claim so we can move on now..

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

Why do updates drive your decision making? If you like the phone as you receive it, why the dire need for updates? This tends to be an addiction, as we always crave something fresh and new, I suppose.
[doublepost=1520541047][/doublepost]All I can say is that after 6 mos with my Samsung after owning an iPhone from ver 1.0, I am still extremely happy with and have no plans to go back to iOS (at least until either Samsung totally screws up the deign, or Apple catches up on hardware and software functionality).

Updates are certainly ONE of the factors that drive my decision making, but not the only one. Why? Mainly because I want a device that I'll be keeping for 2 years to be up to date with the latest software. Considering the fact that a phone costs as much as a mid-range desktop computer, I don't think it's an unreasonable expectation to receive timely updates. My computers get frequent OS updates, which provide new functionality, as well as security patches. Why should my phone be any different?

The prime factor that drives my decision making is the operating system. I've done the whole Android song and dance (rooting, ROMing, you name it) for 6 years, starting with the T-Mobile G1. After picking up the iPhone 6, I never looked back.

 

[Glideslope]

In the end, I agree with you. Others tend disparage against iOS in terms of lack of customization or its boring, but iOS has always been about simplicity and security. It doesn’t have any clutter and it’s a clean platform. Hardware eventually wears off as it is, where software is more meaningful long-term, where I think iOS leads.

You're obviously referring to iOS 10.3.3 and earlier, eh?

 

[mi7chy]

My wife has the S8. In terms of hardware, it's certainly an admirable piece of tech. However, the fact that it runs a heavily skinned version of Android that, as clearly evidenced by Samsung's prior behavior, won't see updates for quite some time makes it a non-starter for me.

Updates aren't comparable across different OS'. iOS is more buggy and behind on features so it needs more frequent updates. For example, Android doesn't have iOS' silly messenger DoS, alarm, time zone, calculator, etc. bugs or bugs introduced fixing other bugs so it needs less frequent updates. Also, Samsung version of Android has had split screen multitasking since around 2012 that iPad copied in 2015 and iPhone has yet to get so it needs fewer feature updates. Bad thing about frequent updates is more annoying downtime and potential bricking of device which has happened on iOS.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

It wasn't wide spread.samsung said it was less than 35 incidents and half those were fraudulent for a quick lawsuit.

Samsung said there were 0.01% of how many phones sold and still did a recal .

There was only a total of 35 phones that swelled up TOTAL

Out of 90 million sold

Samsung sold 90 million Note 7 phones? Where did you get this information?

 

[deanthedev]

It wasn't wide spread.samsung said it was less than 35 incidents and half those were fraudulent for a quick lawsuit.

Samsung said there were 0.01% of how many phones sold and still did a recal .

There was only a total of 35 phones that swelled up TOTAL

Out of 90 million sold

What a complete pile of dung.

- Samsung never sold 90 million Notes. They sold a couple million.
- There were something like 100 incidents in the US alone, out of around 1 million sold.
- Do the math. 0.01% of 1 million is...wait for it...100. That’s the only number (0.01%) you got that was right.
- 35 incidents was an initial number reported when this news first broke. It’s not the grand total of all Note incidents worldwide.

And here’s the best part: If iPhones caught fire or overheated at that same 0.01% rate as the Note 7 did, then......

- This last quarter alone Apple would have had 7,700 incidents.
- In all of 2017 Apple would have had 21,600 incidents.

Curious, do you have some links to news reports of all these iPhone fires? Because I’m pretty confident that if Apple even had 100 fires in an entire year it would be major news. Let alone 21,600 in a year.


The Note 7 was a disaster with the highest (by orders of magnitude) incidents of fire of any smartphone in history. That’s why they had to do a recall.

 

[budafied]

Hate to point out the obvious, 720 vs 1000 does not equal 33%.

You probably missed the price of $840, that's the premium category comparison that is equivalent to iPhone X in price and as such should be compared.

S9, price and all, should be compared to iPhone 8 and not to iPhone X. I should have stated that more clearly to begin with.

You are correct of course. The iPhone X is $280 more expensive than the $720 Galaxy S9 which is actually 39% more ($280/$720).

Right???

The comparison to the iPhone 8 is a matter of opinion though. I don't understand why you think the iPhone X is in a category by itself when spec and design wise it is extremely comparable to the Galaxy S9. The most compelling and expensive feature on the iPhone X is the 5.8" AMOLED screen with an 18:9 aspect ratio which is almost identical to the display on the S9. FaceID is the main significant differentiating hardware feature between the X and the S9 and I doubt there are many outside the Apple fanatics that think that is worth $300 more when compared to TouchID.

The comparisons to the Galaxy S9 Plus will be drastically different in a few months when the iPhone X+ with a similarly sized screen is announced. That $840 price point will suddenly have legitimate competition at $1,100 or more.

Spot on. The koolaid is apparently delicious around here...

If you try to compare based on price alone, then you give the manufacturer the power. I could release a Nokia phone from 2005 for $975 today, does that mean it needs to be compared to the X instead of a flip phone? Clearly, features are what should be compared, not price. Price is compared AFTER features determine what phone is offering more/less.

Do you guys do this with other things in life too? Do you just assume something is priced reasonably and provides a reasonable amount of value because that's the number on the tag?

 

[subway35]

it's still an android phone... "Google now" will spy on you 24/7, it will even read your email's attachments to generate these 'smart cards'.

 

[AlphaGuitarist]

iOS is more buggy and behind on features so it needs more frequent updates.

That's a rather subjective statement, isn't it?

 

[mgauss7]

Galaxy S9 and S9+ reviews are officially out, and they're mostly positive. The consensus is that Samsung's latest smartphones are iterative but improved versions of its already-impressive Galaxy S8 devices.

We've linked a handful of the reviews below for anyone interested, but since we're an Apple-centric website, we've chose to specifically highlight some comparisons made to Apple and the iPhone X in particular.

Highlights

The Wall Street Journal's David Pierce believes that Samsung and the Galaxy S9 once again "set the bar for smartphone design":CNBC's Todd Haselton described the Galaxy S9 as "a worthy rival to the iPhone X" in his review. However, he said Samsung still lacks a Galaxy S smartphone that "pushes the boundaries a bit more" like the iPhone X.Samsung finally included stereo speakers on the Galaxy S9, and Haselton believes they sound "noticeably better" than those on the iPhone X.

The Verge's Dan Seifert said Samsung's new "AR Emoji" feature is "built just to compete with Apple" and "not very good":Quartz's Mike Murphy said what irks him most about the iPhone X is that it can only be unlocked with Face ID or a passcode, whereas the Galaxy S9 has a fingerprint scanner, iris scanner, facial recognition, or a passcode.

However, he adds that the Galaxy S9's iris scanner and facial recognition system are both slower than Face ID on the iPhone X.Mashable's Raymond Wong touted the Galaxy S9 camera's variable aperture, but he said low-light photos aren't necessarily better than those shot with an iPhone X or Google Pixel 2. Most reviews agree it is a matter of personal preference.More Reviews
TechCrunch
Wired
Axios
Android Police
The New York Times
The Independent
The Next Web
USA Today
SlashGear
TIME
Gizmodo
BuzzFeed News
CNET
Engadget
Digital Trends
Pocket-lint
BGR
TrustedReviews
TechRadar
PCWorld
T3Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ can be pre-ordered on Samsung's website for $720 and $840 respectively. The smartphones launch March 16.

Article Link: Samsung's Galaxy S9 Called 'Worthy Rival' to iPhone X as Reviews Hit

I’d rather buy a Samsung fridge than a phone.

 

[Shadowfox_RZ-046]

Does anyone else find the irony in "it's a good competitor for the iphone x" when the Iphone is the phone they had to benchmark. So in essence it's saying that if Apple does a 1/2 way decent job on the next iphone batch, they will destroy the newest Samsung?

Looks to me that if you really like Android, you shouldn't be wasting your time with Samsung and go Pixel, Essential, Razr or etc.

I also think the samsung group think rivals that of Apple lol

 

[Amazing Iceman]

This makes zero sense as the screen,camera,ram,and process node are the best you can use right now.

The gs9 just got the longest lasting battery review also and is on a first firmware without any apps optimized yet.

It's running Android... it's junk.
It's made by Samsung... it's junk.
Nice looking bells and whistles, but all junk.